A generation of high performance front-end and read-out ASICs customized for highly segmented CdZnTe sensors is presented. The ASICs, developed in a multi-year effort at Brookhaven National Laboratory, are targeted to a wide range of applications including medical, safeguards/security, industrial, research, and spectroscopy. The front-end multichannel ASICs provide high accuracy low noise preamplification and filtering of signals, with versions for small and large area CdZnTe elements. They implement a high order unipolar or bipolar shaper, an innovative low noise continuous reset system with self-adapting capability to the wide range of detector leakage currents, a new system for stabilizing the output baseline and high output driving capability. The general-purpose versions include programmable gain and peaking time. The read-out multichannel ASICs provide fully data driven high accuracy amplitude and time measurements, multiplexing and time domain derandomization of the shaped pulses. They implement a fast arbitration scheme and an array of innovative two-phase offset-free rail-to-rail analog peak detectors for buffering and absorption of input rate fluctuations, thus greatly relaxing the rate requirement on the external ADC. Pulse amplitude, hit timing, pulse risetime, and channel address per processed pulse are available at the output in correspondence of an external readout request. Prototype chips have …

This report describes work accomplished in the project, titled ''Development of Appropriate Resistance Spot Welding Practice for Transformation-Hardened Steels.'' The Phase 1 of the program involved development of in-situ temper diagrams for two gauges of representative dual-phase and martensitic grades of steels. The results showed that tempering is an effective way of reducing hold-time sensitivity (HTS) in hardenable high-strength sheet steels. In Phase 2, post-weld cooling rate techniques, incorporating tempering, were evaluated to reduce HTS for the same four steels. Three alternative methods, viz., post-heating, downsloping, and spike tempering, for HTS reduction were investigated. Downsloping was selected for detailed additional study, as it appeared to be the most promising of the cooling rate control methods. The downsloping maps for each of the candidate steels were used to locate the conditions necessary for the peak response. Three specific downslope conditions (at a fix ed final current for each material, timed for a zero-, medium-, and full-softening response) were chosen for further metallurgical and mechanical testing. Representative samples, were inspected metallographically, examining both local hardness variations and microstructures. The resulting downslope diagrams were found to consist largely of a C-curve. The softening observed in these curves, however, was not supported by subsequent …

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Alvin, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittees.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) established an area monitoring dosimeter program in accordance with Article 514 of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Radiological Control Manual (RCM) in January 1993. This program is to minimize the number of areas requiring issuance of personnel dosimeters and to demonstrate that doses outside Radiological Buffer Areas are negligible. In accordance with 10 CFR Part 835.402 (a) (1)-(4) and Article 511.1 of the PNNL Radiological Control Program Description, personnel dosimetry shall be provided to 1) radiological workers who are likely to receive at least 100 mrem annually, and 2) declared pregnant workers, minors, and members of the public who are likely to receive at least 50 mrem annually. Program results for calendar years 1993-2001 confirm that personnel dosimetry is not needed for individuals located in areas monitored by the program.

Key auditing and accounting reform legislation, S. 2673 (Sarbanes), and H.R. 3763 (Oxley), and proposals for auditor oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have been launched to help restore public confidence in a system of corporate financial accounting tainted by accounting fiascos at companies like Enron, Tyco, and Worldcom. This report provides background on significant current SEC regulatory powers in the area of accounting and auditing. It will be updated if there are changes in SEC authority.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The September 11 terrorist attacks and continued threats of future attacks have directed Congress’s attention to U.S.-Canada border security-related issues. Both countries are striving to balance adequate border security with other issues such as the facilitation of legitimate cross-border travel and commerce, and protecting civil liberties. Congress has taken action (the USA PATRIOT Act, P.L. 107-56; and the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, P.L. 107-173) to increase the number of INS border patrol agents and inspectors at northern ports of entry and to provide these officials with additional technologically upgraded equipment.

this report mainly focuses on the Summary of Supreme Court Decisions of Capital Punishment during the 2001-02 Term. This case reveals distinct characteristics.

This report examines recent research findings about Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) implementation as it has affected the nation’s child welfare system. The nation’s program of cash aid for needy families with children (TANF) and its program to protect and care for children who are abused or neglected (child welfare services) are linked by history and share some of the same clients who have similar service needs.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) calls for disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geologic repository that is unlikely to be disturbed for thousands of years. Low-level waste sites are a state responsibility under the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980. Pursuant to that act, 10 regional compacts for disposal of low level waste have been approved by Congress. Three commercial low-level waste sites are currently operating, in the states of South Carolina, Utah, and Washington.

In the 107th Congress, the most prominent air quality issue has been whether state and federal regulations designed to protect air quality are having a negative impact on energy production, and, if so, whether legislation should be enacted to reform such regulations. The early discussion focused primarily on California, but with the release of the Administration’s energy policy recommendations in May 2001 and subsequent congressional action, attention shifted to issues more national in scope.

Key water quality issues that may face the 107th Congress include: actions to implement existing provisions of the Clean Water Act (CWA), whether additional steps are necessary to achieve overall goals of the Act, and the appropriate federal role in guiding and paying for clean water activities. Legislative prospects for comprehensively amending the Act have for some time stalled over whether and exactly how to change the law. If clean water issues receive attention in the 107th Congress, consideration of specific issues will depend in part on the CWA policy agenda of the new Bush Administration and on priorities of the key committees that have major jurisdiction over the Act.

Daily newspaper from Perry, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

News release concerning a DART open house to gather input on proposed bus service changes to be initiated due to the expansion of DART light rail service to Plano.

News release concerning a DART open house to gather input on proposed bus service changes to be initiated due to the expansion of DART light rail service to Plano.

Spectrometer grade, room-temperature radiation detectors have been produced on Cd{sub 0.90}Zn{sub 0.10}Te grown by the low-pressure Bridgman technique. Small amount of indium has been used to compensate the uncompensated Cd vacancies for the crystals to be semi-insulating. The properties of the detectors are critically dependent on the amount of excess Te introduced into the growth melts of the Cd{sub 0.90}Zn{sub 0.10}Te crystals and the best detectors are fabricated from crystals grown with 1.5% excess Te. Detector resolution of {sup 57}Co and {sup 241}Am radiation peaks are observed on all detectors except the ones produced on Cd{sub 0.90}Zn{sub 0.10}Te grown from the melt in the stoichiometric condition. The lack of resolution of these stoichiometric grown detectors is explained by a p/n conduction-type inhomogeneity model.

We present recent simulation results for the main features of the electron cloud in the storage ring of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge, and updated results for the Proton Storage Ring (PSR) at Los Alamos. In particular, a complete refined model for the secondary emission process including the so called true secondary, rediffused and backscattered electrons has been included in the simulation code.

The Cheetah thermochemical computer code provides an accurate method for estimating the TNT equivalency of any explosive, evaluated either with respect to peak pressure or the quasi-static pressure at long time in a confined volume. Cheetah calculates the detonation energy and heat of combustion for virtually any explosive (pure or formulation). Comparing the detonation energy for an explosive with that of TNT allows estimation of the TNT equivalency with respect to peak pressure, while comparison of the heat of combustion allows estimation of TNT equivalency with respect to quasi-static pressure. We discuss the methodology, present results for many explosives, and show comparisons with equivalency data from other sources.

This issue brief views reorganization and management as involving the alteration of the program administrative structure and operations of the executive branch for reasons of efficiency, economy, and direction. The underlying issue is who reorganizes or sets management policy—Congress or the President— and by what authority and, also, for what purpose?

Using ASCA data, we find, contrary to other researchers using ROSAT data, that the X-ray spectra of the VY Scl stars TT Ari and KR Aur are poorly fit by an absorbed blackbody model but are well fit by an absorbed thermal plasma model. The different conclusions about the nature of the X-ray spectrum of KR Aur may be due to differences in the accretion rate, since this Star was in a high optical state during the ROSAT observation, but in an intermediate optical state during the ASCA observation. TT Ari, on the other hand, was in a high optical state during both observations, so directly contradicts the hypothesis that the X-ray spectra of VY Sol stars in their high optical states are blackbodies. Instead, based on theoretical expectations and the ASCA, Chandra, and XMM spectra of other nonmagnetic cataclysmic variables, we believe that the X-ray spectra of VY Sol stars in their low and high optical states are due to hot thermal plasma in the boundary layer between the accretion disk and the surface of the white dwarf, and appeal to the acquisition of Chandra and XMM grating spectra to test this prediction.

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Funeral program for Julius Caesar Echols, Jr., born July 1, 1936 and died June 30, 2002. The funeral was held July 8, 2002 at Greater Corinth Baptist Church, officiated by Dr. Carl Johnson. Funeral arrangements were made through Lewis Funeral Home and he was buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery near San Antonio, Texas.